When designing an electronic image viewing and editing system, e.g., as a section of an electronic camera, the human interface with the system must support, above all other functions, the selection and viewing of images. As used herein, the human (or user) interface refers to the totality of the human interaction with the system, and the means for enabling such interaction, e.g., including the information presented by the system to the user, and by the user to the system, as well as the devices that enable such presentations. The system must also provide the ability to apply actions against these images, such as magnifying the images, deleting the images, or sharing the images via a display device. Such a system will often employ a very small display and limited area for user controls; therefore, it is important for the user interface to have as few buttons as possible, to present images that are visible on the small display, and to encourage interaction that is as intuitive as possible so as to tie usage of the buttons on the camera to the graphics on the display.
The mode of interaction varies dramatically in existing electronic cameras and software. For example, the QV-10 Liquid Crystal Digital Camera, sold by Casio Inc., uses dedicated buttons for image navigation (i.e., moving among images) and for image editing. Image navigation is accomplished by two buttons on the top of the camera, and image editing is accomplished by additional buttons also on top of the camera. In this configuration, each press of a button changes a single dedicated attribute of the image that is being viewed. This style of interaction is efficient when only a few attributes of the image can be altered. However, when a large number of attributes can be altered (in this example, greater than 4), the number of buttons required for this style of interaction quickly becomes too large to be practical. At the other extreme is the DSC-F1 Digital Still Camera, which is sold by Sony. In general, this camera provides a built in LCD screen and a large set of on-screen menus that are controlled by a button and a thumbwheel. The camera also provides buttons for image scrolling and numerous buttons for dedicated functions. However, this camera does not effectively tie the use of buttons on the camera to graphics on the display.
In addition, in an electronic digital camera such as the Casio QV-10, it is necessary for a user to review the stored images one by one to reach a particular one to be reviewed. For example, if the user is viewing image 1 and wishes to view image 20, he or she must press a button to advance to the next image at which time image 2 is generated and brought to the screen after about a 2 second delay required for the camera electronics to read and display the stored image. The user must again press the advance button at which time image 3 is generated and brought to the screen after another 2 second delay. This process must be repeated 19 times by the user who wishes to view image 20. This process requires better than 0.5 minute to complete. Such a method of scrolling through the images is therefore relatively time consuming and tedious.
In copending Ser. No. 08/803,338, a color display unit is provided on the back of the camera housing, and an edit switch and a directional switch unit is provided adjacent to the display unit. The directional switch unit is a four directional thumbpad segmented into four different individual directional switches. The user can then manually scroll through digital film images in forward and reverse directions by utilizing the right and left directional segments of the thumbpad. In this mode, as with the Casio QV-10, each image is shown individually as the user scrolls through the stored images. In a separate edit level, the edit switch is activated and a functional icon group is displayed. Then the user can utilize the up and down directional segments of the thumbpad to advance through the displayed function icons until the desired icon is highlighted. Then the edit switch is utilized to enable the highlighted function.
In copending Ser. No. 08/769,575, an electronic camera stores captured images and allows a user to relatively rapidly review any desired stored image, and to do so without repetitive actions. The camera displays a large image on its display device and a strip of low resolution images, including one in a preset strip position corresponding to the large image. The user can then navigate backwards and forward through the strip of images in the camera's storage device by pressing a forward button or a reverse button arrayed adjacent to the display device. If the user simply presses and releases the forward or reverse buttons, the low resolution images in the strip advance or reverse by one image, and the next corresponding large image is displayed.
None of the foregoing systems integrate frame selection and function enablement into a single presentation that intuitively leads the user through the available choices and options.